Morning Boss
by hardly loquacious
Summary: A post-ep of sorts to Red Rum from Cho's perspective. Starts with the case and moves to his thoughts on his boss and Jane. Lisbon/Cho friendship fic.


So apparently I'm on a roll. Actually I just love these characters. I'm a bit worried that this one might be out of character at times, but hopefully not too much. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed my last fic. I really appreciate it, especially since it was the first one I'd ever written. I did try to include some dialogue in this one. Who knows, I might even work my way up to having a plot eventually. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Again, I own nothing.

"Morning Boss," I muttered from over top of my coffee cup as I walked into the office.

"Cho," she replied.

It'd been the same routine for as long as I could remember, not overly talkative, just to the point.

I went over to my desk, grabbed my report from the latest case and handed it to her.

She thanked me absently, quickly scanning it, before putting it aside. "Great. Thanks Cho."

"No problem." I turned to leave when her voice stopped me.

"Anything we need to follow up on from the last case?"

Something in her tone made me pause before answering, "Uhhh… like what Boss?"

"Just wanted to make sure that no other regal animals were demanding your subservience. Might become a problem in the future. No eagles demanded you pay them tribute? A Grizzly didn't demand a formal bow? You weren't followed home by an angry swarm of bees?"

I was impressed. She'd managed to keep the smirk off of her face, but not the amusement out of her voice. "No. All is well between me and the animal kingdom. Crazy witch lady, or whatever she was, seems to have relinquished her hold on my spirit." I don't care what Jane says, if there's the slightest chance that any of that stuff is real, I'd rather not be poking at it with a stick is all I'm saying. "Wait… bees?"

She smiled then, "Well, they do have queens."

Deciding a change in subject was in order I said, "Hey, at least I wasn't put on a carrot-only diet to stop my chipmunk-like eating."

"What?"

"Van Pelt confiscated Ribsby's junk food. I'm surprised you haven't heard him whining about his so-called vegetable allergy yet."

She snorted. "No, but I'm sure I'll have that pleasure soon enough."

I just smirked in response and sat down at my desk. Lisbon was a good boss, smart, honest, loyal and dedicated, good at her job. I mean, what's not to love about a superior who'll tackle a man twice her size holding a two foot knife? A bit snarky at times, but it'd be a bit hypocritical if that bothered me, besides I could use the help mocking Rigsby. Sometimes he's too much for one person, no matter how gifted. I smirked as I heard snatches of her conversation with my bear-sized colleague who'd just entered the office. Seems she was being updated on the new vegetables-only stakeout diet.

"I hate to tell you Rigsby, but even if I cared, since carrots are not, as far as I know, a hazard to the working environment there's not much I can do."

"But she stole my food!"

"Then either get better at hiding it, or find evidence that excessive eating of carrots has resulted in poor police work, because unless that's the case, I don't care if you eat so many carrots you turn orange. You and Van Pelt will have to work this out on your own."

"Sure thing boss. We'll figure it out."

Yeah right. Like he'd ever do something she didn't want him to. The number of times he glances moonily at her in an hour is quickly approaching triple digits. Jane's right, he needs to make a move, that or get over it, either way it'll put the rest of us out of our misery. Speak of the devil, here comes Mr. Non-Psychic-But-Eerily-Accurate-Anyways now.

"Hey guys, Lisbon. How's the intrepid crime fighting team today?"

Van Pelt and Rigsby greeted him with equal enthusiasm, I gave him a quick hello and Lisbon rolled her eyes and calmly said "Jane" before going back to what she was doing. Jane sat down at his desk and seemed to start doing something productive, but I knew it wouldn't last, not if the last few weeks were anything to go by.

Sure enough it wasn't long before he was up out of his chair and moving in Lisbon's direction. Sure, he always stopped off to chat with Rigsby and Van Pelt along the way, but he always ended up closest to the boss in the end. To be honest, I'm not even sure if he knew he was doing it, though with Jane you never can tell. She always pretends to ignore him for as long as possible, and then her answers to anything he says are short and to the point. But he knows her too well and eventually she'll be smiling at him while they talk about who knows what. From the snatches I hear it's never anything important, and it's never for too long, but anytime they're in the same room eventually he'll be moving towards her like she's a puzzle he can't quite figure out. And the thing is, she's starting to let him, piece by piece. She's putting whatever she was doing aside slightly more quickly and smiling just a bit more readily each day.

I know this could be a good thing. There's clearly some kind of connection between them, though right now it's more friendship than anything else. He clearly likes her quite a bit, and she's becoming quite fond of him. And there's an argument to be made that maybe she could stand to lower her defences a little. I mean, I've worked with her for years and there are thousands of things I don't know about her. But, I do know this: Theresa Lisbon put those defences up for a reason. She got lumped with an overwhelming amount of responsibility really quickly really young. She needed to get tough, and to do it fast. It's clear that in the past people close to her have stomped all over her, so she doesn't really let anyone in anymore. She's used to taking responsibility for everyone around her without complaint.

And so I'm worried about Jane's desire to see what's behind the walls. Not that I think he'd ever intentionally hurt her. God knows I like Jane. He's a good guy, friendly, smart and fun. He keeps her on her toes, respects her. If that was all, he'd be great for her. But horrible things happened to him and now he's wracked with guilt. If they become good friends it could be really good for both of them, she could learn to trust, and it might help him move on. But the thing is, Jane can be careless and he doesn't always look beyond himself. I mean, he did give crazy-witch-lady my name. Supposedly she's given me back the ashes of whatever it was she set fire to, but knowing Jane he may have just set fire to some random paper towel (in which case who knows what he'll have called up with his karma). I know however he managed to get these ashes he did it out of kindness, but that doesn't change the fact that he was a bit insensitive about the whole thing to begin with. I mean, _I know_ that the chances Tamsin Dove is an actual witch and that she cast an actual spell are slim, but that's not the point. If Lisbon gets close Jane could end up stomping all over her, either accidentally, or because she got in the way. She can't let him kill Red John, it's against her nature. And friendship or no, I don't know that he'd pause before steam-rolling over her to get what he wants so desperately. If or when that happens she'll be the one stuck in the middle, taking care of everyone like she always has. Trying to keep him alive, or out of prison, trying to give him peace of mind or comfort, trying to protect her team and the CBI. Basically taking care of everyone but herself. And if she opens up to Jane, and he crushes her, well, let's just say I'd rather she didn't shut people out completely.

So I'm going to have to be the one to look out for her. Because I'm her friend, I've known her the longest, and even if I don't know her best, I'm objective enough to understand what this could cost her. But mostly, and even though I sympathize with Jane's situation, because if and when catastrophe happens, I don't know if anyone else will, and I won't let her be alone out there, she'd do it for me in a heartbeat. So if this goes badly, it'll be the two of us against the force that is Patrick Jane. God help us.

On second thought, maybe I should give Tamsin Dove a call. I mean, if there's even the slightest chance we could get the Triple Goddess and the Horned God on our side, well, we could use all the help we can get.


End file.
